Jorma Rantanen and Suvi Lehtinen
The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) has, through the Finnish International Development Agency, FINNIDA, supported the development of occupational health and safety…
Abstract
The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) has, through the Finnish International Development Agency, FINNIDA, supported the development of occupational health and safety in Africa and Asia since 1974. Training of occupational health personnel, employers’ and workers’ organizations, expert advice and information dissemination are components of the collaborative of the FIOH/FINNIDA programmes.
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Kaj Storbacka and Suvi Nenonen
The purpose of this paper is to examine how, taking customer relationships as the unit of analysis, the heterogeneity of customer relationship performance influences the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how, taking customer relationships as the unit of analysis, the heterogeneity of customer relationship performance influences the heterogeneity of firm performance, and how firms can balance the heterogeneity of customers, customer relationships, and customer portfolios by differentiated business models.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach to the topic is one of theoretical analysis and conceptual development.
Findings
Value capture is defined as the discounted present value of all future economic profit from the relationship. Three sources of value capture heterogeneity are identified: the customer, the relationship with the customer, and the interdependence between customers in a customer base. Relationship performance can be improved by investing in business model differentiation, in order to facilitate controlled adaptation to specific customer relationships and/or customer portfolios. Firms have to manage parallel business models and a central capability is the ability to create internal fit between the elements of a specific business model.
Research limitations/implications
The research presented relates to business‐to‐business customer relationships. Some of the conceptual thinking will not be applicable in consumer relationships.
Practical implications
A firm should have an optimum mix of customer relationships in its customer base, in relation to firm goals and strategy. Management needs to recognize the heterogeneity of customer relationship performance, and manage customer portfolios accordingly. In order to deal with the heterogeneity, it may be necessary to manage parallel business models. This will necessitate new capabilities, such as customer insight generation, account management, modularized production platforms, and relationship performance control.
Originality/value
For a scholarly audience the paper contributes to the discussion on how marketing improves firm performance by assuming responsibility for increasing firms' market value. For a practitioner audience it offers ideas for genuinely customer‐centric management.
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– The aim of this study is to investigate how male managers make meaning the role of their female spouses along with their careers.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate how male managers make meaning the role of their female spouses along with their careers.
Design/methodology/approach
The topic was investigated within a Finnish context by analyzing the narratives of 29 male managers. Common to the men were their managerial position and extensive work experience. All the men had or had had one or more spouses during their careers, and all of them were fathers.
Findings
A typology distinguishing four types of female spouses was constructed: supporting, balance-seeking, care-providing, and success-expecting types. These types describe the various roles that are constructed in relation to the female partner during a male manager ' s career, pointing out the ambiguous nature of the phenomenon.
Originality/value
The study highlights that to understand more about male managers ' experience in their careers, the author needs to acknowledge how a male manager ' s career unfolds in tandem with their family life, as well as the norms and gender roles related to the family. Research approaches that enable examination from that perspective should be developed.
Kaj Storbacka, Pennie Frow, Suvi Nenonen and Adrian Payne
Purpose – The aim of this chapter is to investigate how a focal market actor may design or redesign business models for improved value co-creation.Findings – We posit that value…
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this chapter is to investigate how a focal market actor may design or redesign business models for improved value co-creation.
Findings – We posit that value is co-created in use as actors integrate resources in practices, which makes practices a fundamental unit of value creation. Greater density of resources, relevant to a specific practice and to the goals or mission of the actor, corresponds to greater value. The role of a provider is to support other actors in their value-creation processes by providing resources that ‘fit’ into their practices.
We identify 12 categories of business model design elements that need to be defined and developed in parallel. We conclude that a focal actor needs to strive for both intra-actor and inter-actor (meso-level) configurational fit of business model elements in order to enable purposeful co-creation in specific practices.
Finally, we propose that meso-level configurations develop in a three-phase process of origination, mobilization and stabilization. A focal actor wishing to improve co-creation in a network needs to develop value propositions not only for customers but also for other actor domains. Overall, the performative power of a market actor is dependent on its network position, the relative strength of its business model and the actor's ability to author compelling meanings.
Originality – The research contributes to the discussion on value co-creation by identifying three shifts in the unit of analysis: (1) we argue that use-value is co-created as actors integrate resources in practices, rendering practices a fundamental unit of analysis, (2) as practices are outcomes of business models, we identified business model design as a key unit of analysis for the improvement of value co-creation and (3) our view on business models is network-centric and we focus on how to introduce new business model elements in a specific actor network.
Practical implications – The realization of the fact that value creation occurs in networks of interdependent actors pinpoints the need for increased transparency both between functional silos and between actors. The business model framework identifies 12 design elements, which can act as a ‘checklist’ for managers wanting to engage in co-creative business models.
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Niclas Sandström, Robert Eriksson, Kirsti Lonka and Suvi Nenonen
The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of user experiences in a physical and technologically embedded learning environment (LE) designed to support active…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of user experiences in a physical and technologically embedded learning environment (LE) designed to support active student-led inquiry-based studies and collaborative knowledge creation in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper integrated the USEframe of usability of built environments and the inquiry-based engaging learning environment (ELE) to test and develop the usability and pedagogy of future LEs. A group of ten teacher students was studied and interviewed semi-structurally after a seven-week inquiry-based course unit. The findings were considered in light of the two frameworks.
Findings
The physical and embedded LEs provided the students with socio-digital affordances that promoted experienced study engagement, knowledge co-creation and sharing and a sense of safety and belonging in the scientific community. The application of the ELE model and the agile physical setting complemented and supported each other and promoted learning.
Practical implications
The results shed light on how to integrate understanding the user process, user experience and use of embedded LEs to develop usability of new LEs.
Originality/value
The living lab provides different stakeholders with tangible information about usability and helps the designers in concrete streamlining of pedagogy and physical LEs.
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The purpose of this paper is to record the author’s personal reflections on his career as a marketing scholar.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to record the author’s personal reflections on his career as a marketing scholar.
Design/methodology/approach
Personal reflections in an autobiographical approach.
Findings
The author’s career as student, teacher and scholar is described in some detail.
Originality/value
The paper records events and memories that might otherwise be forgotten. No other such account has been published of Christian Grönroos’s career.
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Anna‐Liisa Lindholm and Suvi Nenonen
To provide a review and classification of tools, techniques and methodologies, which are and could be used for measuring and identifying the success of corporate real estate and…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a review and classification of tools, techniques and methodologies, which are and could be used for measuring and identifying the success of corporate real estate and workplace management.
Design/methodology/approach
Review of previously published works on performance measurement and measurement models and empirical interviews with 26 corporate real estate executives to examine what are common approaches to measuring performance.
Findings
Provides information about the corporate real estate performance measuring methods and practices.
Research limitations/implications
The conceptual framework is not an exhaustive list of methods and techniques. It is more like a first analytical review and classification of different kinds of methods, which could be developed over time.
Practical implications
A useful source of information and impartial analysis of methods for corporate real estate and workplace managers seeking ways to demonstrate their value to the core business of their firm.
Originality/value
Corporate real estate and workplace managers need better ways and tools to illustrate to the corporate leaders how they add value. This paper provides a review of such tools and offers practical help and guidance for using this kind of tools.